Wolf hunting and trapping season to close Sunday

The 2012-13 Wisconsin wolf hunting and trapping season will end Sunday when the Department of Natural Resources closes wolf management zone 3.

The zone, in northwestern Wisconsin, was the last of six management areas open to wolf harvest.

Hunters and trappers had registered 17 wolves in zone 3 through Saturday morning, one short of the harvest quota.

The quota may be reached or exceeded over the weekend, but wolf hunting and trapping will end at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Statewide 115 wolves had been killed through Saturday morning, according to the DNR.

The season, the first regulated wolf hunt in Wisconsin history, began Oct. 15. Wildlife officials set a statewide harvest quota of 116 wolves for non-tribal hunters and trappers.

Wisconsin had an estimated 815 to 880 wolves in more than 200 packs in late winter. The wolf population typically doubles by summer, then declines to an annual low in late winter, according to wolf researchers.

The DNR's goal for the season was to reduce the wolf population to a "more biologically and socially acceptable level."

“We are pleased that hunters and trappers have been successful in achieving our quota, and the harvest was well distributed across the state," said Kurt Thiede, DNR Lands Division Administrator. "We are closing the wolf season with the harvest at 115, because we may have one or more still harvested until our closure goes into effect tomorrow.”

The wolf was removed from protections of the federal Endangered Species Act and returned to state management in January. The Wisconsin Legislature established rules for the wolf hunting and trapping season in Act 169, passed in April.

Minnesota is also holding a wolf hunting and trapping season this year. The Michigan Legislature is considering a bill to authorize a wolf harvest in that state.

Hunters and trappers in Wisconsin were required to submit the carcass from each wolf kill to the DNR for analysis, including age, health and reproductive status.

Thiede said the agency is learning much during the inaugural wolf season, including about hunter and trapper success rates.

"We will learn more as we analyze additional data," Thiede said. "This will help us draft permanent rules and the long-term management of our wolf population.”

Listed below are the wolf harvest numbers through Saturday morning in each zone. And shown at the bottom is a map of the Wisconsin wolf management zones, including all the zones previously closed and Zone 3 which will close at 5 p.m. Sunday.